​Where does an author get ideas from? Mine generally come from some snippet of history that I adapt and use as a theme for a novel. But sometimes it comes closer than that. My mother was 17 at the outbreak of World War 2 and had just started work. Her office base was moved to a Lancashire seaside town and there she stayed for 7 years, miles from family and friends. Then there was me, at 18, travelling to America to spend a summer as a nanny. Passing through New York, I lost my luggage. You’ll spot these influences if you read “The Girl Back Home”, due to be e-published by MuseItUp in the New Year, about a girl sent to safety in America on the outbreak of war. It’s a coming-of-age story and a romance.